The Best Day (Songfic)
Part of the Songfic Series. OA is Taylor Swift. About a young she-cat who looses her mother and is visiting her gravesite a moon after her death. If you need me to kind of explain I can. Enjoy! The Best Day I poke my squirrel and prick it with my claws. I'm not really hungry, but this is my excuse for not doing anything else. "Silversplash." I look up to see my father, Lakestar standing. His blue eyes and fur are brilliant, even in the gray morning light. The pale streaks across the darkness suggest that it will be a beautiful day today. The leaves are ornage and red and yellow and falling fast. Just like they did a moon ago. "Silversplash." I realize he's waiting for a response. "Yes?" I meow as steadily as I can. "You should take the day off." My heart lifts a little. a whole day to myself to mope about with no one to boss me arouind because I only became a warrior a moon ago! "Really?" "You need to visit her." Lakestar says, ignoring me. My heart plummets so far down I think it's in the ground somewhere. I know exactly who 'her' is. And I know exactly why my father is doing this to me. He pads off before I can properly insult him and I toy about with my squirrel for a few more moments, then throw it away, disgusted, and slink out of camp. I'm five years old It's getting cold I've got my big coat on. I pad through the small woods in RiverClan territory and stare at the ground, trying not to look at the leaves or the trees or the bright blue sky or feel the breeze. Then I hear a giggle. A kit's giggle. I looks and spot it, running towards it, intending to ask it what it's doing. Then I recogniuze the kit. And I recognize where we are. Tall Trees. I squeeze my eyes shut because memories like this are dangerous. I hear your laugh and look up smiling at you I run and run. Past the pumpkin patch And the tractor rides. The sky is cold. The kit hears something and looks up smiling. It trots off and I reluctantly follow it. We run for a while, then emgerge into a clearing. A reddish-brown queen with my sky-blue eyes greets the kit and they touch noses. The kit nuzzles her. I sit and watch silently even though I'm whimpering inside. Suddenly I'm glad Lakestar didn't come with me. I hug your legs '' ''And fall asleep On the way home. They pad off through the woods together, pressed up against the other. I turn away, tears stinging at my eyes. The last thing I see if them vanishing into mist after they've gone a couple fox-lengths, back into my memories. Rushwing..... I shake my head, refusing to let grief overpower me and run to the gravesite. I don't know why All the trees change in the fall. I pad through the gravestones. The trees have caught my eye and I try to ignore the memories they bring up in vain. "Why do the trees change in leaf-fall?" I remember asking my mother as a kit. She looked like she was going to give me a real answer, which promised to be boring, when she meowed, "They're falling stars. StarClan sends them because they're so beautiful and they want to remind the cats that life is a beautiful thing." After that we'd spend hours and days and even a moon watching the leaves change and fall. I close my eyes and blink. I miss her... I arrive at her gravestone, a flat, round rock, serperate from all of the others. It's sheltered by a clump of ferns except for one side which stands out, ready for cats to grieve. The river flows on steadily behind it. Lakestar said she was a leader's mate and an important warrior, so she deserves it. I say he just wants a place to cry in privacy. I know you're not scared of anything at all. "Hey...mom, Rushwing, whatever. You there?" I decide not to wait for my dead mother to respond. I'm here because Lakestar ordered me too. Not because I wanted to talk to her. I do....I'm just not ready. I don't think I'll ever be. I decid to start with the most unemotional, easiest thing I can about her. Which is actually pretty painful. "You were a great warrior." I tell the rock. "Everyone admired you so. And you were so brave in battle! Nothing scared you! I remember-" I stop. because remembering can be very painful. "The Clan is weaker without you." I say softly. Which is true. A moon after her death, we lost a great warrior, we have a grieving leader, and a new warrior who is too hurt to step into line. Don't know if Snow White's house is near or far away "It's not my fault, honestly." I say, half to Rushwing, half to myself. "I just never let my feelings out. I was too stubborn to talk to dad and he was too stuborn to ask me." I thought about how painful it was now. As a kit, I hadn't cared about anything at all. At one moon old, I didn't know where ShadowClan was, but could tell you that my parents loved me more than anything on earth. Except for maybe eachother. But I know I had the best day With you. Today. I swallow. My best memories, the ones I really treasure aren't about battles or training or friends. They're about my mother. And she's dead. I'm 13 now and don't know how my friends could be so mean. I come home crying and you hold me tight. And grab the keys. "When I was an apprentice you never let the other tease me." I sid, bitterly remembering the taunts of the others because my father used to be a kittypet. "You stuck by me through everything and they got punished." I purr, rembering. And we drive and drive Until we find a town far enough away. And talk and windowshop Til I forgot all them names. "You always listened to me." I said softly. A tear threatens to fall out of my eye so I wipe it away. "You did everything in your power to make me feel like I was special." I don't know who I'm gonna talk to now at school. I know I'm laughing on '' ''The car ride home with you. "I never really knew who to talk to, who to fit in with. Everyone was nice to me because I was Lakestar's daughter, but no one wanted me." the words stick in my thorat. "You were my best friend. You were my hero." Don't know how long it's gonna take to feel ok. "I honestly don't know how long it's gonna take me to pull myself back together. Because I really loved you, y'know? And then you went and died on me." But I know I had the best day with you. Today. "But everytime I think about you, I have all these great memories. They were the greatest times of my life. And now thinking about them hurts so much." I have an excellent father. His strength is making me stronger. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Lakestar. But he's just shattered now. He really really misses you. And he's too much like me. But whenever I see him adressing the Clan, those little times when he pulls himself back into one piece, it just makes me feel stronger. If he can, so can I." I take a breath. Ignore the tears pricking my eyes. God smiles on my little brother. '' ''Inside and out he's better then I am. "And then there's Rivereyes." I say, thinking of my brother, born a litter before me. "I mean, I know he's StarClan's choosen medicine cat and all, but he keeps reminding us you're ok now, better. It's so annoying." I give a shaky giggle. It feels good to gossip with Rushwing, even if she's dead and not responding. Is she even listening? I try not to think about it. "But he's better then I ever will be, so I have to forgive him. He just wants us to be happy." My claws trace a torn piece of spiderweb into the ground. "He wanted you to be happy. We all did." I grew up in a pretty house and I space to run "I had a great life really, I can hardly complain. As the leader's daughter I got everything I wanted. And as the medicine cat's little sister, a senior warrior's daughter, I was so lucky. I had a Clan that loved me. I had room to run and swim and play." I sigh softly. I did have a good life. Except for one thing. And I Had the best days With you. "But I always had the best of times with you." There is a video I found way back when I was 3. You set up a paint set in the kitchen and you're talking to me. It's the age of princesses and pirate ships and the 7 dwarfs. I remember the earliest memory I had, the one Lakestar helped me construct. "Lakestar helped me remember that one time we took leaves and berries and sticks. And we made those pictures? You're were so good. I still have mine, I look at them every once in a while. Usually when I miss-" I stop. I might be opening up, but that's a real secret. And dady's smart and '' ''You're the prettiest lady in the whole wide world. "Dad's the best leader ever. And yu were the most beautiful she-cat in RiverClan. In all the Clans really." Sadness engulfed me. And for the first time since I came here I thought about her dying. Not just remembering fun times as a kit which hurt enough. But that day, that day a moon ago. After that battle. The leaves had been swirling down, the sky robin egg blue, the breeze blowing softly. It was beautiful. And then Rivereyes came and told us Rushwing didn't make it. A tear drops out of my eyes. Now I know why the trees change in the fall. I look at the trees again. Now I know why the leave fall. It's not because StarClan said so or because they're beautiful. It's because they can't hold on any longer, even though they like living. They let go of the tree, let go of the other leaves and plunge down to the cold earth where they die, slowly crinkling from beautiful into a shriveled heap. I know you were on my side, '' ''Even when I was wrong "All those times you stood up for me, you always sided with me mom. Why? Just because I was your kit? But you always made me feel like someone, someone understood me. You made everything so much easier." And I love you For giving me your eyes. "So I guess...I guess I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for being so nice and loving me. Thank you for your eyes and being my best friend." my face fur is damp from the tears. "Thanks for being my mom." Staying back and watching me shine. "Thank you for letting me become the warrior I am now. RiverClan will never forget you." I didn't know if you knew. So I'm taking this chance to say. That I had the best day With you.... "I love you." I say, standing up. My eyes are full of tears and I'm shaking with silent sobs but my legs are strong. "I really do. And I miss you so much." I wish she heard me, because I've never been this open with any cat before. "I'll never forget you. Maybe I'll see you again in StarClan soon." I start backing away, but I'm still talking to my mother, telling Rushwing how I'll come again soon and how to take care. Finally I stop at the edge of the woods. "Bye." I press my tail to my mouth and push it towards her grave, a RiverClan tradition to give to someone you love to tell them good bye. I run into the woods, not noticing the pale outline of a reddish-brown she-cat with my eyes watching me go. Today. Category:Artimas Hunter's Fanfics Category:Songfic